Way to go....!!

WAY TO GO, RUTGERS!!!!!

WOOOOO HOOOOO!

So much has happened...some good, some bad..

Where to start...

I guess we'll start with the "good". Last Saturday night I was able to catch up with my girlfriend Diana. Diana and I were best friends throughout high school. We shared many an adventure! Diana moved to CA when she was 17. Last time I saw her was about 12 or so years ago. (My kids were really young.) So, what did we do? I met Diana, her daughter Jesse, Jesse's friend Ashley, Diana's sister Vera, and Vera's daughter Dana at Penn Station around 7pm on Saturday night. It was too funny. Diana and Vera both looked at me and exclaimed "Oh my God! You look EXACTLY the same!!" (Is this good or bad?!LOL!) I cannot tell you how happy I was to see Diana again! She and I were tighter than sisters at one point of our lives.  So...anyway...We proceeded to Chinatown for dinner. Dinner was good. I had chicken in curry sauce. We all kind of shared what we ordered (pork fried rice, sweet and sour pork, pork lo mein, beef and green peas, etc...) It was all pretty good. (Just some hole-in-the-wall place we found walking down Canal Street.) From there the younger girls wanted to do some shopping so we obliged them. Finally we wound up in the Lower East Village at Coyote Ugly! WHAT A BLAST! We had a great time! The younger girls danced on the bar in true Coyote Ugly fashion! They earned the shirts that they either received as gifts form male patrons or bought themselves. (Please, search "Coyote Ugly" to see what this place is all about!) Ok..the place was a tiny hole-in-the-wall but what alot of fun we had! Herman drove into the city to pick me up, as taking the train home at 130am by myself was totally UNAPPEALING. I was the 1st to leave. (Side note: Vera was soooo f'n pissy that night...but she's always been this way. I told her daughter (Dana) that Id go to the city with her anytime she wanted to go.) I had hoped to see Diana before she left (earlier today) but it never worked out that way. I'm hoping to take a road trip out to CA ( Martinez, 30 miles northwest of San Francisco) in the next year. This way I can spend time with Diana, no distractions!

Ok...now on to bad news. I recently received an email from my mom that totally BLASTED me for being a terrible mother to Jackie. I received this email about a week ago and have yet to get over it. This email was totally inappropriate and completely uncalled for. Prior to this email, my mother had IMd (didn't call, didn't have Jackie call)  me to ask me to pay for Jackie's medication yet again. I signed off before I had to answer, as I was taken off guard. The next day my mom emailed me to say that she was waiting for my response. My response was, 

Hi Mom,

    I'm sorry but I cannot afford to pay for Jackie's medications. Jackie should be checking into programs that the drug companies offer for people who cannot afford medication. It's unfortunate that she waits until she is completely out of her medication before she worries about where the next prescription is coming from. This is something that Jackie needs to take care of. As long as she knows that someone is going to pay her way, she won't be forced to take care of herself and her needs.

Love, Sharon

 

The next day I received such a scathing email from my mother that I was unable to read the email in it's entirety. I deleted the email before I was able to read it through. It was so awful. Such accusations. Calling me a bad mother. Telling me that Jackie was a "victim". You know what? I don't like anyone who plays the "victim" card. In any case, this email has caused me such grief that I am not planning on spending the holidays with my mother and sister. They have turned this into a situation that makes people choose "sides"...There are no sides to this. This has nothing to do with us loving or not loving Jackie. My mother is doing Jackie such a disservice by enabling her. In my mind, my mother is helping Jackie kill herslf. You provide for her so that she has money to stick a needle in her arm?! How are you saving her?!! I have never told my mother that she cannot help Jackie...that's up to her. Then tonight Becky received an IM from Jackie, who told her that she had totalled her car yesterday. She said that something fell behind and got stuck behind her brake and she plowed thru a red light. I suppose this means that the cars she crashed into will be seeking compensation since the accident was clearly her fault. She's supposedly in a methadone treatment program. Should she be driving? She's "under the influence", because it is a drug. When will she ever learn? All we want is for her to be back in a program that makes her become responsible for herself. When she was in AZ, she was atotally different person. She was self reliant, responsible..in charge of her life. We offered to send her back but my mother (interfered) talked her out of it. And yet, my mother claims that we don't care about Jackie. All we want is for Jackie to be healthy and happy. And we feel that this is NOT going to happen back here in NJ. She has too many people (my mom and my sister) who will allow her to lay around the house and watch tv all day long...in other words, enable her.. When does this all end? I can tell you that we have no hope for her as long as she stays near my family. They think that they are helping when in actuality they are really only helping to speed the process of her killing herself. They just don't get it. There's just so much going on with Jackie that I cannot even begin to explain...

 

Sorry to vent..I just needed an outlet. I just want to scream at the top of my lungs. And it doesn't matter, because my family still won't get it. They won't get it. They'll blame me for the rest of Jackie's life.

 

Can't write anymore.

Peace.

Yeah, it's been a long time..I know..

Ok...where do I begin?

Been doing really well at the gym. I curled 25 pounds with my left arm tonight!! (Ok..I could BARELY curl 10 pounds when I started so 25 lbs. is a miracle! Also, I couldn't curl it with my right arm becasue my right arm isn't as strong as my left arm.) So, yes...progress is being made daily. I've been averaging 3 days a week for the past few weeks. My weight is up but I think it's because I'm getting more muscle mass. ( I love flexing my biceps! LOL) Elisa has been keeping up with me, even passing me up in the upright bench press.

I've been pretty busy the past few weeks. Oh, I caught a damn head cold that kept me down for a few days. I hate head colds! Give me the flu any ol' day! Lay in bed, sip soup, have people take care of you, call out of work for 4 days!! A cold, well...no sympathy, no soup, no calling out of work. ::ugh:: 

TSPR news: We are getting new shirts and a new jacket this week! We (me, Ali and Sue) went back to do a follow up investigation last night. One of our ranks resigned today. This saddened me. I hate to see this person go. On Wednesday night we are going to see John Zaffis (a demonologist) at a local college. Can;t wait! We (me and Ali) were very fortunate to meet John at a paranormal conference in CT 1 year ago. He's fascinating!

Jon: Maybe you know Jon, maybe you don't. He's a good friend of Brian and Kathleen's. A week or so ago he lost his dad to a massive heart attack. Jon's entries are heartbreaking , to say the least. Please hold Jon and his family in your thoughts and prayers. If you read thru Jon's journal a bit, you'll see that a friend of his is missing and has presumably committed suicided. (He left a carefully placed note.) How much can a person endure? You can feel Jon's pain when you read his blog. (Side note: Jon is an incredibly talented and witty guy. Read his journal. I think you'll agree that he has a way with words. And he's as sarcastic as the day is long...and I like that in a person!)

John: My son broke his wrist 2 weeks ago today. He was skateboarding and when he fell, he smacked his wrist against the wood and broke it. He's in a cast for 1 more week and then a wrist splint for another 3 weeks. When I originally took him to the ER, they said that it wasn't broke and that it was sprained. An hour after we got home, they called back and said that the radiologist saw a break in his wrist. So we had to go back to the ER and get it splinted. Then we had to go to an orthopedic dr and get it casted the next day. Aghhhhh...

Ok...I guess that's it for now.

Peace.....

What I did this weekend

Me, Ali and Sue (all from TSPR) attended UNIV-CON in State College, PA this past weekend. It was a gathering of all different sorts of people who are interested in the paranormal. I think I speak for all of us when I say that a great time was had by all! We attended a few really great lectures/presentations and a few really awful ones, too. (I feigned an asthma attack to get out of one particularly bad presentation. I'm sure that I'm going to hell for that one!)

We were pleasantly surprised when we met Jason from Ghost Hunters. He was a nice guy, down to earth. We had a nice time chatting with him. Several of the guest speakers were very nice. Patrick Burns from Court TV's Haunting Evidence was one of the nicest guys I've yet to meet. He did a presentation on EVP work that was wonderful. Ali and I learned a great deal from him. Ryan Buell, a Penn State student (or graduate, not sure) was there. A&E gave him a show of his own titled Paranormal U. It airs in 2007. He was a doll, too. Most everyone there was very nice. There were some exceptions to this, but I'm not naming names.

It was a long ride...4 hours from here. But what a gorgeous ride! The leaves were spectacular on the way home. Too bad I was driving. I would've taken pictures for ya! I didnt bring my new camera with me as it is bulkier than my old one and wayyyyy more expensive. I wasn't comfortable leaving it in the room, either.

Well...I have to get back to cleaning up the mess that awaited my return.

Peace!

Oh c'mon...get over it!

Hey! Life has been busy for me! Sor-ry! (LOL)

Herman has taken the past few Mondays off. Last week we took a hike in the beautiful Bushkill Falls in PA. Yesterday we took a ride to Horsham PA ( a suburban area of Philadelphia) to see where we lived for 2 1/2 years. Then we went to NYC to walk around and grab a bite to eat. (PA and NYC in one day??!! Don't I live in the BEST PLACE ever?!) We've spent a great deal of "quality time" together recently...and you don't see me complaining!

The kids are all back to school. (Can I get a "hallelujah" everyone?!) Rachel has already had strep throat, Becky has had oral surgery resulting in an infected lymph gland and John has had to make an emergency trip to the dentist for a root canal gone bad. They have ALL been on antibiotics for the past week or so. Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come.

Herman bought me a new camera! I got a Sony DSLR 10.2 mb camera a few weeks ago. I'll post photos when I can figure out how to take a great pictures. Give me a couple of weeks. I took the camera on a recent TSPR investigation. Again, I still have to figure out all the settings. It DOES take beautiful pictures, tho...

Speakimg of TSPR: My good friend Gary recently joined our ranks. He'll be a great contributor to our group as he is an audio editor for a national women's cable channel. (I'm not namin' names.) TSPR recently did an investigation in northern NJ. We'll update our site when we have everyone's report. Our website is currently undergoing MAJOR renovations so not everything is current. We're re-grouping and overhauling the website...which is exactly why I'm not linking to our site right now. I'll let you know when it's ready to be unveiled....

I received a phone call today from an old friend from church. I haven't seen John in a very long time...going on a year or so. Considering that I live in a very small town (pop. just above 13,000) it's quite odd that we haven't run into each other. Anyway, he sprung some unsurprising news upon me today: he's getting divorced. I say unsurprising because, as awful as it sounds, I saw it coming. Still, it's very sad as there are young impressionable children involved. Divorce rarely, if ever, has a positive effect on children. (I say this from my own experience...and I've been both a child of divorce and a divorcee. But...this is just my opinion.) I wish John well...he sounds a  bit , hmmm...happier and less stressed than before.

Well...that's about it on my end.

Peace!

Opinions, please!

Whaddaya think of the new color scheme? Anything I should change? Are the links too white? All opinions thoughtfully considered!

Thanks!

Pictures

I'm sitting here listening to the winds of what remains of Tropical Storm Ernesto, praying that my front tree won't be felled by the heavy winds. What a sucky day! It's been pouring since last night.

Herman and I celebrated our 19 year wedding anniversary on August 30th! I can't believe that the time has flown by so quickly! We went to dinner at the Barge, where, as usual, I had the "Special Shore Dinner" that consisted of a shrimp cocktail, a dozen steamers, a cup of chowder, salad, potato and a 1 1/4 pound lobster! I ate every last bite! Instead of the rice pudding that came with my dinner, I had creme brulee. When we came home we shared some champagne and strawberries. All in all, a very nice way to celebrate our anniversary. I'm hoping to be drinking pina coladas on some deserted beach in the caribbean for our 20th, though. (Keep dreaming, Sharon.)

The gym is going well. I made it there 4 times this week. Elisa and I have stopped the circuit training. We are doing some cardio (to warm up) for about 10-15 minutes and then we lift weights. We do 2 body parts (legs, back, shoulders, chest, arms, etc) 3 times a week. Today we did 30 minutes of cardio. I'm going to see if I can get to the gym every day and do cardio. I'll let ya know how THAT goes..LOL!

Well, that's about it for now. I hope that everyone has a great holiday weekend, in spite of the sucky weather!

Peace!

Random stuff

Herman and I were on vacation 2 weeks ago. Instead of going away for a week we decided to just do day trips. Monday and Tuesday were really crappy (rain) so we just hung out at home. Wednesday we took the kids and our 10 year old nephew to Dorney Park. Thursday Herman and I went to Pt. Pleasant, Friday we went to Atlantic City amd Sunday we headed to New Hope, PA. (Saturday we had to attend a party in NY.) All in all it was a nice vacation. We spent the majority of the time alone, just the two of us. The kids all had stuff to do so we just took off without them. Which was kinda nice! Atlantic City (a 2 hour ride for us) was alot of fun! We suck at gambling, though. We'd be up by $2 and we'd cash out! LOL! I have no stomach for losing money, so we only played around with $40 or so. We walked along the boardwalk, hit a few bars along the way, checked out the casinos. For dinner we did the buffet thing at the Trump casino. Buffets are wasted on me. I only ate the turkey and mashed potatoes. Damn...for $19.95 I could buy a whole lot of turkey and mashed potatoes! LOL! Anyway, we had ourselves a grand ol' time. Going back to work was hard, though.

In October our group (TSPR) has decided to take the 4 hour trip out to State College, PA for a paranormal conference. It should be alot of fun! Sue (our newest member) has never done a trip with us. The conference will have all kinds of seminars, lectures, investigation opportunities, etc. The guys from "Ghost Hunters" will also be there.

The gym thing has been going really well! I've been averaging 3-4 times a week. I've actually gained weight as opposed to losing it. But that's ok because there is a noticeable difference in my body shape. I've been told that while I am burning fat, I am also gaining weight from muscle. So this isn't bad. Eventually I will lose some weight. And that's ok with me. My friend Elisa has also started going to the gym with me. She's making great progress! Once I reload the photo software I'll get some pictures up. Which leads me to...

Our computer has had so many issues as of the past month. Poor Herman has had to do alot of work on it. He wiped out the hard drive, reinstalled the recovery cds...crashed again..wiped everything out. This was beyond frustrating. The computer has been running fine the past week or so, but trust me when I tell you that I will be backing everything up from now on!!

School starts on Sept 11...I can't wait for the kids to go back to school. I'm off from work on Mondays and Wednesdays...and I like those days to be peaceful! Rachel starts college on Sept 5..how exciting!

Well...I should start dinner soon. I hope that all is well with everyone...and I'm sorry for the delay in posting (Dar!)!!

Peace!

I'm still here...

Hey everyone! Yes, I'm still here. We've been plagued with computer problems: hard drive crashed, mother board fried...everything was wiped out. All my pictures from CA to Gettysburg to Rachel's graduation: gone. It's very upsetting. Now we're waiting to get a recovery cd from HP. I have no sound, no graphics..ugh. I'm beginning to hate computers as much as I hate cars!!!

Late last month I sprung a surprise (well, not really "surprised") visit on Dar! Becky was scheduled to go down there to visit and I decided to go with her for a few days. Seems that Dar had a feeling that I might be coming for a visit. When she met Becky at the airport, she said, "So, where's your mom?" I ran up behind her, covered her eyes and she screamed, "I KNEW IT!!" LOL! That night just Dar and I went to Outback for dinner. Sunday we went to Sanibel Island....sooooo beautiful! We swam in the Gulf of Mexico and caught some needed sun. Monday we went to a local water park where we had a BLAST! I was chicken to go on some of the slides in the beginning but by the end of the day I had gone on almost every ride/slide! We had a lot of fun! Her boys are getting so big..I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw them. Becky is still down there...she'll be home on Friday night. My flight home was nice..I had the emergency exit row with no seat in front of me! (I have long legs as I'm 5'10" and all legs.) There were lightening storms to the west the entire flight home so it was like watching fireworks for 2.5 hours. Very cool.

Jackie is going back to AZ...and not on my dime, either. A friend of hers in AZ has offered to pay for everything as long as she gets back into the WINR's program in Mesa. My mom threw her out last Friday because she (my mom) was leaving for Disney World with my sister's family the next day. However, she's back there now because she conned my mom into letting her back in til she leaves for AZ. (My mom is in FL til Saturday.) It's frustrating...

It's been freaking hot here in NJ...I think we hit 101 degrees today. They're predicting that the heat wave will break tomorrow night...I sure hope so. We can't even sit out on the deck at night for fear of melting.

The gym is going well. My friend Eliza has decided to tag along lately so I have a training partner! I haven't really lost weight but I am seeing muscles so that's cool.

Well...time for dinner. Hope all is well with everyone.

Peace!

 

Catch-up time

Yeah...I know. I suck at posting . Oh well.

I was sick this week. I ran out of medication that helps keep me hydrated, keeps up my blood volume and most importantly, keeps my blood pressure up. (I have Addison's Disease, which mean I take medications to keep my blood pressure up...otherwise, I fall down! LOL!) I got my primary dr to write the prescription so I've been back on it for 3 days now. (I hadn't taken it in over a week, I think.) So, I can't go to the gym for a bit. I've been making good progress there, though! I've lost 1 size, no weight...but muscle weighs more than fat so I did lose body fat. YAY!!!!

The Jackie situation is the same. Rachel got into it with my mother a week ago. My mother is playing the martyr part right now, "saving" Jackie. Unfortunately, in this case, Jackie needs to save herself. She pretty much told Rachel that Jackie is the victim, that we told her at 9pm on  a Sunday night that she had to get out of the house. Except that Jackie had well over 2 weeks notice. We told her that we would send her back to AZ but she refused. So, out she went. I really cannot live like that again. I get very resentful when I see my 24 year old daughter laying around stoned on my couch, not lifting a finger to help out around the house and not working AT ALL. I will NOT enable this child any longer. She's had more chances than I care to mention. Enough already.

John is up in VT at my dad's house. My sister took him up there on Monday. He'll be back tomorrow. I'm sure that he's bored to tears. I'[d love to head up there sometime this summer. Not likely tho. I have to take day trips. Becky is going to Dar's in a week or so. She'll spend a week with them. She's a big help to Dar while she's there. Becky's been babysitting Keith's (my boss) kids this summer....and making BIG bucks doing it! I think she makes more than I do now!! LOL!

This Friday night we're (TSPR) is doing a cemetery investigation in rural NY. We're joining another group so it should be fun! It's a haul, probably over 2 hours, to get there so I'll be exhausted on Saturday morning. I have to be up by 8am on Saturday to accompany Herman to a powerlifting meet he'll be judgine. Our friend Wayne is going for a 750 pound sqaut at this event so I'll be there to help support him.

We had a great 4th of July party...on July 1st! Lots of food, great friends...plenty of alcohol. Some had TOO much alcohol. No one got out of control...they never do.

Our neighbors had a fire in their attic on Monday night. Very scary for them. He's a retired police sargeant so every cop on duty showed up. We live in a small town (2.3 sq. miles pop. 13000) so anything that happens is an event. We helped as best we could, running out for diapers for his grand daughter. I held his 1 daughter for a good 15 minutes. She was the one who discovered the fire, while giving her 2 year old a bath. She was completely distraught. She finally calmed down when she realized that the fire hadn't spread much beyond the one small part of the attic. Apparently the attic fan either over heated or had crossed electrial wires. Thankfully they're all ok.

Well...that's it for now. I'llpost pictures next time around...say in a month or so! LOL! Nah, I'll try to post a bit more. Just been so damn busy.

Peace.....

Ok, I'm private!

Lots has happened since I last wrote..Let's recap, shall we?

Jackie: It took Jackie all of 2 weeks of being home before she started using again. She would up in the hospital on Memorial Day. We allowed her to come home because she was waiting to hear on a rehab. That never came to fruition. Instead of looking into rehabs, she just kept using and laying around my house, doing nothing and leaving a mess after her. We told her that she had til June 23 to either find a rehab or that she's have to leave. The week before the deadline she was all strung out and we said that we were (once again) sending her back to AZ because we knew that the program out there worked. A few days later she told us that she absolutely woud NOT be going back to AZ. We told her again that she would have to move out the following Sunday. Sunday came around and she made no effort of leaving. She forced our hand and we had to tell her to leave. She didn't leave on her own, rather she made us the "bad guys" because we told her to leave. Where did she go? My mother's, of course. My mother, who bought Jackie's return ticket from AZ without consulting us as to whether or not Jackie could come back into our home...THAT mother. Of course, Jackie is over there, bad-mouthing us to my mom and my sister. Again. (See why I HAD to go private?!) Heroin (or any  type of)addiction makes everyone involved suffer...

Gym: I've been averaging 4 times a week. Haven't lost any weight but I have gained some muscle...and respect!! The above pictures were taken awhile ago. I'm beginning to notice that my clothes are fitting much better and...I've gone down 1 size, into a size 10! I ran around the house the other day screaming, "Yay!! My "Daisy Dukes" fit me!!!" Mark is still using reverse psychology on me, saying that I won't last. 7 weeks and counting!

Rachel: Our 18 year old Rachel graduated high school a week ago tonight! (Thursday) We had a party for her on Saturday, amidst (pun intended) all the rain. We had mostly all family so they didn't mind being stuck in the house. We had most of the party catered, so as to make it easier on us.

I guess that's about it..No gym for me til tomorrow night. I had oral surgery yesterday and the doctor said that I shouldn't go back til Friday...and even then, take it easy til next week. I was in major pain yesterday but haven't neededso much as a Tylenol today! (I ABHOR pain and I'm a baby about it.)

Peace!

I'm going private for I've decided to go private

I've decided to go private for now...If you'd like to have access, just shoot me an email cafeteome@aol.com (duh)

I'll add the regulars..you know who you are! (Darlene,Brian, Jason, Lila, Ms. Day, E'beth, Amy, etc..)

I'm just not comfortable posting too much info as my kids read my journal once in awhile..

I'll stay public for at least 2 weeks..

Hey! I've made it to the gym 4x a week for the past month! I am already seeing some results, such as tighter legs, weight loss, strength...I intend on keeping it up.

I'll post pictures soon..

Peace!

Yes! The Tiki Bar WAS open on Monday!

Well, we never did clean the room OR the yard on Monday. Yes, we went to the Tiki Bar in Pt. Pleasant and then to dinner at The Wharfside! LOL! We took a nice ride down the shore. (Note: Yes, I did say "down the shore". It's one of those regional terms of speech thingies..In NJ, we don't "go to the beach/shore"..no, we "go down the shore". Don't ask...I can't explain it.) Anyway, we had a really nice day together.

Tuesday I worked half a day. So, I decided to do some food shopping. I made some meatballs and sausage for dinner. Then Herman and I headed to the gym. Yay! Day 6! Tonight I won't be going because I had an allergic reaction to something...my lip blew up, I got bad hives and my breathing got bad. So I'll stay home tonight :(

Tomorrow night is Prom! Rachel and Becky are both going. Ray is going with her friend Nick, while Becky is going with her friend Jessica. Friday Ray will head down the shore..hahaha...to Wildwood for the weekend. I'll post some pictures of the girls. Maybe a "before" shot of myself. We'll see.

Tonight is the finale of "Top Chef" so that's what I'll be doing tonight. Maybe even catch some of "Ghosthunters". Oh, which reminds me! TSPR is doing an investigation this weekend! I'm so excited! We're training a new person..fresh blood! LOL!

I guess I'm outta here for now...feeling lousy from the allergic reaction..Peace!

 

Day 5....and other stuff

I've made it to the gym 5 out of 7 days! Today I did the treadmill for 30 minutes and I did a leg workout. Herman is training me. I am doing light weights, light reps. (More "gym-ese"!) In any case, I feel a difference already: more energy, motivation and self-confidence! Oh yeah....more pain, too! LOL!

Last night Herman and I went to a dinner/dance cruise on the Hudson River with his sister Maureen and her husband George. We had a great time! I danced all night! (And I looked like a dork doing it!!!) I'm tall (5'10") so when I dance I look like an ostrich on acid! ROFLMAO! The cruise took us down the Hudson, from Tarrytown, beneath the Tappan Zee, under the GWB and down to Chelsea Pier in Manhattan. Very cool trip! We got home around 11:30pm and just collapsed into bed.

Today we decided to take a ride down US Route 1. We wound up in PA..because we didn't want to get off in Trenton! LOL! Anyway...we saw a sign for New Hope (PA) so we headed north. We hung out in New Hope for a couple of hours..had a few appetizers along the way. Then we had to "find" our way home.. I knew that we had to get back across the Delaware and then head east. Eventually we hit a road that we recognized and soon we were home. We really should invest in a portable navigation system...or at the very least keep a map in the car!! Anyway, we had a good time!

Herman's last day off (for awhile, anyway) is tomorrow. We'll be cleaning our room and working on our lawn. ::sniff::  Maybe we'll take another road trip?! We didn't get to Pt. Pleasant this weekend....Hmmm... I wonder if the Tiki Bar is open on Monday...?

Peace!

3 days....and a groin pull

Yes....3 days in the gym and I officially have a "gym injury"!! Apparently I pulled a groin muscle last night whilst doing cardio work on the treadmill. Or, could be that I pulled it while I was doing leg work. YEP..I'm "official" now. I am now able to speak "gym-ese"...LOL!!

I sure hope that $1000 can fix my groin muscle....

::sigh::

Peace!

A $1000 bet!

Yes...that's right. I made a $1000 bet. The bet? That I will go to the gym 3-4 times per week for the next year. I started this Monday. Herman wants me to start slowly: 3 times a week for now. If I want, I can do the treadmill on the 4th day. So far I've made it twice to the gym. Yes, I am sore. But it's a good kind of sore. It's the sore that says "You WILL get into a bathing suit this year!" Ok...I am not fat by any means..but hey! I AM 45 now and I have had 4 children. Things on my body are slipping southwards...and FAST! I may post some pictures to track my progress..we'll see.

Oh, who did I make the bet with? My friend Mark, who claims that I'll quit after a few weeks. My words to Mark: I'll take your $1000 and I'll look good doing it!

In other fronts: Jackie got a job at a local upscale restaurant. She started training today.

Rachel was in the ER on Monday night. She has ovarian cysts on both ovaries. Ugh. Couple that with the fact that she has a lingering stomach virus and she's one miserable kid right now. Took her to gyn yesterday who wants to keep an eye on her for a bit. If the pain doesn't subside from the cysts he may do laproscopic surgery to see what's going on. Poor Ray!

Herman has been on vacation since last Friday so we've been hanging out with each other quite a bit. Did the Tiki Bar last Saturday. ( Note: A seagull "got" me right in the head! So I played the lottery..didn't win.) Took a ride to a beautiful and ridiculously expensive area of NJ on Friday. (Peapack- Gladstone...Jackie O had an estate there at one time.) We saw this 40,000 sq. foot mansion (I could be exaggerating!) on an estate called  Southern Comfort. DAMN! It was gorgeous! Really makes you wish that you had money!

Mother's Day was nice. We did brunch at a local Charlie Brown's. We went with my mom, sister and her family. Then we had my mom, nephew and Herman's family over for Chinese and Italian take out. No one could agree on 1 type of food so we just got both! Nice night altho I was tired.

Well...I should switch out some laundry and head to the store.

Peace!

Only me...

Sorry for lapse in posting!

Went to Gettysburg last weekend with some fellow TSPR members, Ali and Kerri. We stayed in a cabin again. Had campfire at night, traipsed around the battlefields during the day and did a little investigating. Ali and I smelled pipe tobacco (cherry!) up on Little Round Top. After smelling every damn bush and tree (plus running around to see if anyone had a pipe lit!) we could only guess that there was some sort of presence there. I still have to review my recordings. Nothing showed up in photos.

Got new glasses a couple of weeks ago. They have progressive lenses, which mean I can look at a distance from the top portion of the lens, and I can read close up from the bottom of the lens. They're taking some getting used to, though. I won't bore you, but it's taking awhile for my eyes to adapt to the glasses. Oh, I learned that I'm not really a candidate for contacts because I have an angular astigmatism in my right eye, which would allow the contact to freely float about my eye, causing poor vision. Damn. (I used to have contacts years ago but my eyesight has worsened over the years.)

Jackie returns home for good tomorrow. I believe that her flight arrives around 6am on Thursday. Glad I'm not getting her! My mom will be going for her, as she has the day off and we have to work. We'll see how this works out. She hasn't lived home in quite awhile. We've (Herman and I) told her that she must A)Find a 40 hr a week job ASAP! B)Attend meetings C)Help around the house. There's more, but we're hoping that we don't have to go there.

Rachel graduates high school at the end of June...time flies by! I just can't get over the fact that she'll be headed to college this fall. (County college.) Becky will be a Senior and John, a sophomore.

Well...Rachel wants some Carvel ice cream and I've promised her that I would take her, as long as she brought my towels down from her room. I guess I'm outta here for now..

Peace!

"You say it's your birthday..."

Ok...just a couple of pictures..(Sorry Michele!)

Today is my 45th birthday! And, it is the 50th birthday of my husband's favorite (my favorite, too) cousin Jeff. So we spent the day up at Jeff's celebrating his birthday! It's very odd singing "Happy Birthday" to someone else on your birthday! Herman took me out for my favorite dinner last night: Shrimp cocktail, dozen steamers, Mahattan clam chowder and a 1 1/4 lb. broiled lobster..rice pudding for dessert! (All this for $29.99 at The Barge in Perth Amboy!!) Oh, they make the BEST Bloody Mary, too! Herman said that he is taking me away next weekend..we'll see. I hate leaving 3 teenagers home. We're thinking of going to Mohegan Sun Casino in Ct or doind a cheesy hotel up in the Poconos. (Think champagne glass and heart shaped tubs.) We may wind up in Atlantic City for all I know. We don't really gamble but the hotels are worth the sightseeing trip. I'll let you know where we wind up...after the fact. (Insert dirty little laugh here.)

On other fronts: Jackie had decided to move back home at the end of this month. I really wished that had waited a bit longer to return home, but oh well. She has to learn how to be clean wherever she goes.

Rachel is Boca Raton at the home of a childhood friend who moved there several years. She's having a great time and claims that we will all envy the tan she has accomplished. She'll miss Easter at home but she'll live. Her Easter basket will sit on the table til she gets home. (Tuesday at midnight.)

Anyway..I'm outta here for now..I'm really beat from the day.

Peace!

I got 'em good!

Well, last weekend (April 1st) I got my kids good...REAL good! I picked up my nephew that Saturday, under the pretense of picking up an old friend, "Dianne". I told him that my own children wouldn't accompany me to the airport and that he was a real sport for helping me out. I had a bouquet of flowers that I'd like him to hand to "Dianne" when she showed up. We waited for her down by the security area. When she didn't show up, we decide to move sown to the baggage area. I told him that we needed to keep an eye out for her. I told him that she kind of looked like Jackie, tall and blonde. Well, here comes Jackie down the ramp!! He looks at me and says, "Aunt Sharon! Your friend looks EXACTLY like Jackie!" Well, I cracked up as Jackie ran up to him and gave him a huge hug!! He pulled away from her , as to say "Why is this stranger who looks EXACTLY like my cousin hugging me?!" We both looked at him and said, " It IS Jackie!!" He nearly hit the floor!!! I gave her a long hug and we headed for home, where only Herman and I knew she was coming home for a visit.

I had left a note earlier in the morning (prior to my leaving for the airport) stating that each child (Rachel, Becky and John) had a chore to do and that they MUST all be home when I got back from "the store". (A little background: I told Rachel that she absolutely must be off from her job as we were having a huge family dinner.) I told them that I would have numerous packages that I owuld need help unloading. So, now here we are, heading towards the house. I called and told them that I had a bit of a surprise for them a rather large package that would require all 4 of us to get out of my truck and into the house. Becky pushed for more info, but I wasn't giving any. I told her that they ALL had to be outside or no deal. So when I pulled up to the house and only Becky and John were outside, I refused to let them approach the truck til Rachel was outside to help. When Rachel showed up, my nephew jumped out of the truck exclaining "April Fools, suckers!!"  Rachel said, " I can't believe you got me outta bed to unload groceries..bad joke." I told Rachel that I really DID have a surprise for them and that she should just open the back door. WELL!!!! The screaming and crying that ensued after that!! They were sooooo happy to see their sister after 7 long months!!!

Yeah...I got 'em good!

We had a great time: did dinner with my family, did dinner with Herman's family, did a lot of talking...oh we had such a great time! She looks GREAT!! (I will post pictures next post...whenever that may be!) She returned back to AZ that Wednesday...not willingly, but she did it. (Good girl, Jackie!!) Jackie will be moving back in late June...

Well...I've had a BUSY day...so I'm soooo outta here!

Peace!

 

Catch up time!

Can anyone tell me why the font online has been so large lately? (Like the past 2 months or so?) Are there setting on AOL or on my computer that I need to change? Anyone?!

Ok...seems like we may survive this winter after all! My mother in law recently (last Tuesday) had surgery to remove a thymoma from her chest...that is, a tumor of her thymus gland. The dr cuther straight down the breat bone...OUCH! Then he sewed her breasbone back together with stainless steel thread..cool! We don' have the biopsy results yet but I'm sure that it will be good news. The surgeon was pretty confident that it's not cancer.

Jackie update: She has decided that she will be returning to NJ for good in the mid-summer. I'm worried about this move, BUT she has to be able to live anywhere in her recovery so she may as well be here. I still plan on returning to AZ, especially Sedona.

Rachel is going to Boca Raton to visit a childhood friend from grade school. She's going over Easter break with her bestfriend Nikki. I know that they'll have a wonderful time!

Becky and John are hangin' in there. John is especially happy that Herman bought a 2006 black 350Z this past weekend. Yeah I hear all of you screaming "MID LIFE CRISIS!!"...and maybe it is. But he's always wanted a sports car so now was the right time for him to get it. I love driving it! We still have my Ford F150 supercrew truck so that we can still take the kids with us. But boy oh boy! I can't wait to cruise down the shore in that car!

Work is fine. We had a particularly slow winter so we're looking forward to the warm weather and air conditioning season! Did you know that more people call when they don't have a/c as opposed to calling when they don't have heat?  Amazing! People will wait a day or so to get service when they don't have heat but they will not wait more than 4 hours to get a service call for no air conditioning!! Just an observation..

Hey! I guess you all noticed that Remo went private?! Damn, I'll miss him! I was always a "lurker" in his journal...didn't post many comments..I always appreciated his opinions, if I agreed with him or not. At least he has the cohones to stand by what he believes in. He was a real breath of fresh air and I'll miss reading his journal.

Oh, special mention to CHOY...he became a US Citizen recently! You can read allabout it here. A great big congratulations to him! I'm sure he'll be one fine citizen!

Well, time to fold some laundry...I'm outta here..Oh, one more thing...I've kind of been lurking in everyone's journals, not leaving comments..I'm sorry about that (Brian, Michele, CHOY, deborah, Amy, Jason, SunflowerKat,Ms. HillareeDay, Gordy,Heimdall... pretty much everyone I read) It's been a long and difficult winter for us (my family)...your stories, pictures, posts have brightened my days! It's so nice to be part of a caring community! And some of the laughs I've gotten from your posts have really lifted my spirits! Anyway, thanks for sharing your lives with me through your blog!

Peace!

"It-Sucks-to- be-Me" Day!!

Yes, it sucks to be me today. I had a tooth extracted about 10 days ago. It was a very traumatic extraction. Took near to half an hour and when the sucker FINALLY came out, the roots were 3/4"-1" long and they were curled in at the bottom!! The dentist stitched it up and said come back in a week. Well, can I tell you that I've been in pain ever since then?! I went back Monday to get the stitches out. It was then that he discovered that I have "dry socket", a condition where the blood clot gets dislodged and exposes the bone. This causes the nerves to react, causing a great deal of pain from my ear to the middle of my mouth!! So, I've been taking Advil, lots of it. I think I have a hole in my stomach from taking so much of it. He packed my extraction site and said to come back on Wednesday. Went back, they removed old packing and put new packing in. Said to come back Friday. Thursday the packing fell out. More pain. Friday (today) I woke up sneezing my butt off. I have a cold. Damn. Went back to dentist..he said that the wound appears to be healing and that he can't really pack it anymore because the it would only fall out. (Note: The packing made the pain less severe..helped the healing progress.) So, he said to just rinse with salt water and take Tylenol #3..it has codeine in it and won't give me an ulcer.

Let's hope that it doesn't suck to be me tomorrow...

Peace...

Finally! Some snow!

Well, winter has finally arrived! Yes, it took awhile but it's here now. We spent the better part of Sunday digging out from the 20" of snow we received Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Spoke to Jackie yesterday...she's homesick. I reassured her that she would, on occasion, be homesick but that she has a better life out there. We're trying to figure out how we're going to get her car out to her. I wanted her to fly out here and then I'd drive out with her. No deal. Herman doesn't like that idea, for numerous reasons..one being the whole safety thing. 2 women traveling alone...not good. I, on the other hand, thought it would be a great deal of fun!

Not too much else to say so I'm outta here! Peace!

More updates..

Today is Jackie's 24th and Rachel's 18th birthdays! Yes, they have the same birthday. And yes, we celebrate them together...actually, since John's 15th birthday is on the 18th, we celebrate ALL three birthdays on the same day! (Does it get any easier?!) Becky will be 17 on June 21 so she's the only one who gets her very own party and cake. Enough about that..

Jason continues to make big strides in his recovery. His dad, George, had his cancer surgery yesterday. He's doing very well. He'll get out of the hospital on Thursday.

A few weeks back my mother in law had chest pain that radiated into her back. It wasn't a heart attack, thank God. She had some scans done and it came back that she has a mass in her chest. I spent the night up by them (NY) last night so that I could accompany them to the thoracic surgeon today. ( A few months ago we {Herman, his sister Maureen and I) decided that they could not go to the doctor's without one of us present..Why, you ask? Well...my father in law is very hard of hearing and the stories he comes up with are unbelievable!! He takes whatever he actually hears and expounds on it so that he we think he heard the doctor!!) Back to the story: Turns out that she has a thymoma, a tumor on her thymus gland. It is in front of her heart so it will need to be removed. She has to see a cardiologist to examine her heart and then we'll go back to get the determination from the surgeon. She's in no imminent danger right now so there is no hurry to get this done. It will, however, need to removed in the near future as it could possible turn into cancer. Anyway, we were kind of relieved about this because when someone says it's a tumor, you automatically assume the worst. So this was, in an odd way, good news.

All is well here. Been busy. Had tooth extracted on Monday...SUCKED. It's ok now, tho. Work is fine...a tad slow right now...since it's been in the 60's (on a few occasions) there have been no "no heat" calls...Funnily enough, a few weeks ago I had a customer call to say that it was too hot in their office and could we come and fix the air conditioning!! It's been a strange winter here in the northeast...not really cold at all.

I guess that's about it for now...Peace!

Jackie

Well, just an update on Jackie's situation:

She returned back to WINR's when she was released from the hospital. She was met by the director of the program who began to complain to Jackie that her diabetes was a burden to the program. (Side note: Jackie asked about this when she originally applied to this program.) In the meantime, no one from staff has ever A) taken her to the hospital B) called her at the hospital to make sure she was ok nor C) visited her. The woman who was saying this to Jackie didn't even know Jackie's name or that she had diabetes before all of this!!! Then the woman told Jackie that there were rumors and suspicions that Jackie and this other girl (the lesbian) were becoming "intimate" and that she broke the rules by doing so. Jackie denied this vehemently (because it's NOT true) and they still told her that she had 2 choices: either start the program over from the beginning (she has 5 months in this program!!) or leave. Jackie told her that she absolutely wouldn't start the program over because she did NOTHING wrong. So, they told her to pack her things and leave immediately. And she did. I've spoken to her 3 times today. She was in tears because she really wanted that graduation under her belt. She wanted the satisfaction of knowing that she completed something. She wanted that acknowledgement of success. I felt so badly for her....still do.

So, in the meantime, she has decided to stay in AZ and look for her own place. She has safe friends to stay with for however long it takes. I just feel that she'll be fine...she WILL make it!!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO JACKIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We love you!

John's band and the fire

Well, the fire that burned The Oddessy's practice location made the local newspaper yesterday! They also made the local cable news last night! Hopefully, some music store (Sam Ash, Lou Rose) will offer to sell them new equipment at cost or at least with no finance charges.

I heard from Jackie last night and this morning. She is in the hospital...blood sugar was 500+ and not coming down. So, 2 days in ICU with an insulin drip and she's feeling better. Except that she's being accused of having an "affair" with another girls in the program, which is grounds for removal!! She's not..and I think that it's very unfair to make false accusations just because the other girl is a lesbian and Jackie is a good friend of hers. This poor girl! Just imagine being accused of numerous "affairs" just because you're a lesbian and live with all women!! Jackie will find out what's going to happen to her once she gets out of the hospital.

Ok...that's it for now! Peace!

The good, the bad and...well,the ugly. (Sorry for the bad cliche)

The good: My sister is pregnant! Woooooohoooo! I'm still in shock!! She'll turn 44 the day before my 45th birthday (yes, she was born the day before my first birthday!!) so this is both happy and hmmm..not scary...but, well, "cautious" news. However, I am soooo thrilled about this news that I simply CANNOT contain myself!!!! Yeeeeeeeeehawwwww!

Also, I finally heard from Dar...she made the big move!!! Yay! She's in a much better place: mentally, physical, emotionally and financially. I'm so happy for her and her boys!

The bad: My son's band, The Oddessy, lost a majority of their equipment this evening when the place they stored their equipment at and rehearsed at went up in flames. The damages are still being totalled. I feel soooo badly for them and the owner of the garage ( a band member's mother)...Hopefully, they'll recover from this awful fire. Nobody was injured, thank God.

The ugly: Work. I won't go into detail but this week was pretty much AWFUL.....and not related to the job itself. Two people I care about a great deal have had pretty much the worst week in their lives ever. And I'm stuck in the middle. I'm not worried about losing my job but I am afraid of losing a friend. We'll see how this plays out...

Well, this is all the news that's fit to print..so I'm outta here.

Peace!!!

Help a girl out!

Deborah (outtabodymommy) of "So this is what I'm gonna be when I grow up"  is looking to get 100 comments! Can you spare a comment? She is sooo damn funny! Check her out!

Ain't I quite the pimp today??!! LOL!!

Peace!

And thank you, Jason!!

A great big ""THANKS" to my friend Jason over at Jason's Thoughts and Views!! He made his list of weird things about him!! Go check out his list AND his journal. He's a great guy, just like Brian at Becoming a Firefighter. Thanks guys!!

Thanks Brian!

Just want to pimp the fact that Brian over at Becoming a Firefighter made up his list of 5 weird things about him! Go on over and check out his blog!

Jason update: On Tuesday they moved Jason to a rehab facility. Yay!! He's in a great deal of pain due to the fracture in his back and the broken pelvis and hip. Mentally, he's not all there but they're working on it. It was great to see him yesterday! His dad, George, is in the hospital right down the road from Jason. He checked himself in after getting dehydrated from his radiation treatments. (He couldn't eat or drink anything because they did radiation on his neck and throat.) He's getting fluids and is doing much better. He'll be there til Tueday. Friday he finds out when he'll have surgery to remove the tumor from his neck.

Anthony update: If you remember, Anthony is the 15 year old who has osteosarcoma in his leg. He had 2 recent surgeries to remove spots from his both lungs. He's doing well. The most recent surgery was Friday. His dad reported that instead of the 2 spots they saw in the CAT scan, there were actually 12!! But they were able to remove them, thankfully. Keep this family in your prayers.

Darlene: Well, my girl had gone and done it! I'm waiting to hear from her. She was supposed to have sold her house and moved 3 hours away!! She got herself a job!! This necessitated the move, as a 6 hour per day commute wouldn't work! GOOD LUCK DAR!! (I'm still waiting to hear from her tho...gotta find out if this actually went down this way!)

Jackie: My dear daughter has decided to stay in AZ after she graduates from WINRs!! I'm (we're) all sooooo proud of all the great progress she's made! She really has changed herself, in a positive way. Words cannot describe how proud of her we all are! She'll come home for a week or so after she graduates (my parents are planning on going out for this!) and then she heads back to a brand new life! She's excited about this. She'll get her own apartment. My dad will ship her car out to her. She's training to be athe manager of the restaurant that she's currently working at. All very exciting things! We'll all (us, my sister, my parents) take turns going out to visit her..she'll probably never go more than 4-5 months without a visit from someone. Anyway...we're so thrilled by this decision...can you tell?!

That's it for now...gotta get to the food store befre my poor children starves!

Peace!

Apparently I've been tagged!

A fellow journaler has tagged me. Amy over at My online Diary asked me to list 5 weird things about myself. Here they are, in no particular order:

1) I do not allow anyone in my family to load my dishwasher. Dishwashers were designed to be loaded in a specific way and damn it! I load it the way it was meant to be loaded!! LOL!

2) I will drive miles out of my way just so that I don't have to make a dangerous left turn.

3) I have many odd diseases: Addison's disease (JFK had this one so I'm in great company!), sarcoidosis, pernicious anemia..all of them are autoimmune diseases.

4) My favorite impression is that of a lizard, whereby I crouch on a chair and randomly stick my tongue out to catch flies. Yes, VERY weird..I agree!

5) When I'm walking barefoot, I walk with all my toes pointing towards the sky! (I think this is because I once stepped on a bee and I don;t EVER want that to happen again!!)

Hmmm...who do I tag now?? Adrian, CHOI, Brian, Jason and Gordy!!!

Jason

Happy New Year, all!!

Jason continues to make small (minute) progress daily. When we saw him on Saturday, he spoke and recognized people. When we went back on Sunday, he wouldn't speak. He was sleeping while appearing to be awake. Very strange...very scary. The neurosurgeon explained to Mo (Herman's sister) that it would take 6 months to a year for recovery. He has a traumatic brain injury to his frontal lobe.

God...it's so awful watching this...1 step forward, 2 steps back.

He has such a long road ahead of him.

We just want him to be better...

..instant gratification.

Makes you really think about your brain and how little we know about it..

This accident has really put alot of things into perspective for me..

Like Sears and the technician who never showed..

Who give a shi*??

I gave up that battle.

I cannot imagine how I would feel if my child was in Jason's place..I know that I would cope on the outside ..

...and die on the inside.

Please hold this child and his family in your prayers.

Peace.